A performance report has said that East Ayrshire Council is "progressing well" with its strategic priority to promote town centre living.

The report was presented to the Cabinet earlier this week.

It said:

• significant progress is being made to deliver 205 affordable, new build houses on 13 housing sites within Kilmarnock, Cumnock, Galston, Mauchline, Stewarton, Darvel and Hurlford through the Council's Strategic Housing Investment Programme with strong support from the Scottish Government

• a targeted approach to private sector landlords to increase awareness of the support available to undertake improvements to dwellings is beginning to bear fruit

• the Kilmarnock Townscape Heritage Initiative is having a dramatic impact on the appearance of Kilmarnock Town Centre with 18 projects either completed, on site or under development

• close working relationships with Police Scotland through the Community Planning Partnership has seen crime figures falling in Kilmarnock and Cumnock.

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In July, a report on the future of Scotland's town centres was published by the National Review of Town Centres' Advisory Group, which has now been submitted to the Scottish Government for consideration.

A number of the key principles, actions and recommendations in the report have already been adopted, or are being implemented by the Council, such as placing the health of the town centres at the middle of decision-making processes, as well as aligning public resources to support the towns.

Once the Government has responded to the report, an action plan will be produced for the country's town centres. The Council will then consider whether its own approach to its town centres will need to be adjusted in any way.

Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the Council said: "The progress that has been made to date is extremely encouraging and we can all now see the benefits of the work and investment that have been ploughed into our town centres.

"We now have Council staff who have been relocated to Kilmarnock and Cumnock town centres who are helping to contribute to the local economy. We have reduced crime rates. We have a healthy events programme which attracts hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people to our town centres. We're using vacant properties wherever we can to create pop up spaces for school exhibitions or cultural activities, and we're planning to build houses in our town centres which in turn should help to increase external investment.

"There is so much work going on and we look forward to seeing the Scottish Government's action plan for Scotland's town centres in autumn this year which will be useful in helping us to gauge whether we need to realign any of our actions or plans.

"We want our town centres to be vibrant, bustling places where people can work, shop, live and socialise in a safe environment and we will continue to build on the excellent progress already made to fully realise this goal."

(JP/CD)